funlovincriminal

Ok, so been a bit slack on the updates. Too much fun being had. Long story short - despite all odds she made it in the water the day after Boxing day and went out to the Barrier for a few days whereupon we had the crap kicked out of us over new years. Everyone survived and over the last few months we have made a couple of little trips like Mahurangi regatta and Kawau for Easter weekend. Still bolting things on every time we go out but we are getting there! Anyhow - this weekends achievement was finally making her first racing appearance in over 20 years. We were literally screwing

Thanks Elevation, under way

As far as topsides paint goes - you can't go past Autothane C.V for price and toughness. It's a 2 pot Epoxy designed for commercial vehicles, available in any colour under the sun. I used it for the cabin, decks and hull on the Shapeshifter, it was my first time spraying anything like a boat and it came out mint. Cured fast and is hard as nails. Any automotive paint store will be able to get it for you.

I need all the bits to make a Melges 24 Prod useable - bearings, end plugs, stop ring, seal mount and seals. Is there anywhere in NZ that carries this stuff? Cheers

Looking sharp K.M Must come have a looksie

Oh so it's a race you want is it? I reckon clear coat it how it is. The Patina effect is well sought after in Hotrod circles

A tumultuous weekend at 830 HQ, whilst trying to get the spreaders fitted to the correct angle we discovered that some silly sausage had put the mast step on 140mm too far forward 20 years ago, and with the benefit of blissful ignorance this muppet had gone ahead and painted the boat. If we had of used it we would have ended up with a spreader angle of 34 degrees! Once the inevitable was accepted it was out with the sabre saw and off with it's head. Some unwilling grinding and sanding later..... a new hardwood pad was fashioned and temporarily screwed in place so we could test step the mast.

Technically 2 weekends and 10 weeknights work but finally the 830 is beginning to look a bit grown up. Full bottom sand, interprotect and 1st coat of antifoul on the weekend. Non skid applied to decks, just cockpit and cabin top to do now. Mast base fitted. Stanchions bonded and bolted, modified Pulpit and Pushpits fitted. Deck layout finalized and Jammers bonded in place. Winches on, instruments fitted, cockpit floor aft lockers and quarter berth portlights installed. Keel lifting blocks bonded and pinned, limiting plate studs bonded in. Inspection port cut in side of keel trunk (well abov

Great to see the old girl back in her element! - Well done on the refit.

This weekend just gone was also jam packed full of family type stuff and a couple of Thugby games so what should have been a half day job to get the rudder system sorted ended up spanning two days and an evening. I wanted to through bolt the gudgeons from the inside, glueing the stainless bolts in so they became studs on the outside of the hull enabling me to get the gudgeons off easily in the future if required. This wasn't going to be an issue on the upper one as the bolts would be reachable from inside the motor well. The lowers however were separated from prying eyes, fumbling fingers an

Ok, plenty of non boating stuff going on over the last couple of weekends but managed to squeeze a bit more alone time in to tick another couple of items off the list. Bathurst weekend was internal strengthening time, I wasn't entirely happy with the lack of structure in the stbd side of the keel case so opted to build a kitset ring frame to tie it to the floors, stbd chainplate and bunk fronts. Using CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) I made templates up and then traced them onto 19mm ply. I laminated three bits of this together to make a 57mm thick frame which I then glued, coved, taped and glass

Ha ha - exactly what I was thinking. I just waded through a couple of years worth of this thread and found the pics of yours and now I want to get the sabre saw out again

That's a dramatic change! Looks great

Ha ha - yes, not the smartest time of day to move an oversized load on an unregistered trailer... She is currently up on Scott Road. Most likely launch from the Weiti Boating Club as she is destined to be a riverboat. The finances can't stretch to a Marina berth, although after the initial launch I may rent one for a month to get all the systems working properly. Thanks for the compliment!

After 20 years of hiding away from the world the 830 is now out in the elements. Phase 1 completed, now for the interior beef up and refit! I can see it from my bedroom window now so no possibility of ignoring my responsibilities ha ha

Masking off last night, the kids were impressed

Well... what a weekend! Crash course in boat spraying and two pack Urethanes resulted in a pretty damn decent looking DIY paint job if I do say so myself. It wasn't without dramas though, Had to shoot the decks, cockpit and cabin first which was pretty problematic doing it all at once as far as access was concerned. In hindsight splitting the task up would have made more sense but we are in the gun time wise so had to have that all complete on Saturday. Sunday a mask up and shoot the hull in white, let it tack off then two coats of Ford 'Toxic'. All going well then noticed a big s

Will do!

Not yet but in the plans. Got an alloy cut down 930 rig with it.

Got 4 liters of epoxy hibuild primer which according to the paint shop should have done three full coats wet on wet. .. almost managed 1.5 ha ha. .. I think he wasn't factoring in the cockpit, cabin and decks. Have to do it all again I guess!

It's still kind of the weekend isn't it? Convinced Kelsey to come give me a hand to level the old girl up and sort the waterline out. Man the laser made short work of the whole deal! Plenty of time for a pint at the Wade afterwards ha ha

Looking good KM Glad to see I'm not the only one whom has positioned the outer prod tube as close to deck height as possible! A lot of boats seem to have them further down which moves them away from the grunty gunwhale/hull to deck join. I was going for maximum strength while not giving away too much anchor locker and front berth headroom...

Ok, less important life type stuff has robbed me of a couple of weekends of what should have been yacht based toil, but we are on the verge of undercoating the 830 now... Prod tube fitted and faired, stem all cleaned up and toerails made, glued, glassed and faired... getting really good at this sanding lark now ha ha! Going to jack and chock the hull in the cradle one night this week to ping the waterline, bit of masking and dusting/wiping down then three coats wet on wet of highbuild epoxy primer thinned only just enough to use as a filler coat will be going on cabin, decks and topsides thi

Initially I would have agreed but we are going to have one that folds out to the opposite side of the stem to keep it clear of the prod.

Ok another weekend done and dusted. Received the new carbon prodder and tube from Jason at Kilwell during the week so first priority was finding center-line of the boat and rigging up a long alloy straightedge with string line coming back to where I needed the prod to retract without using up too much of the space my anchor locker or front berth. Once I had that sorted and triple checked that when 2 metres out the end of the prod was still on the center-line I set about making some holes. Firstly in the newly reinforced bulkhead/anchor locker back wall and then rather more carefully in the h